Sept., 1912 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
199 
to settle this point. At each dive, the suggestion of a violent tornado in miniature, as shown 
by the dust of the ashes, was very striking. — Chakles W. Bowles. 
Egrets in California. — As the total extinction of the Egret (Hcrodias cgi'ctta) and 
the Snowy Egret {Egrctta caudidissima candidissima) has been prophesied, the following 
records should be of interest. A trip into the marsh lands southeast of Los Banos, Merced 
County, California, on July 11, 1912, revealed the fact that these two birds still exist in 
small numbers in this state. 
A flock of seventeen egrets was first noted. 'I'he birds were first seen quietly standing 
about in an open marshy field. On nearer approach they took flight and were seen to 
settle down in a field some distance away. Later, a lone Snowy Egret was seen wading 
about in water about a foot deep. Still kiter in the day, three Egrets and two Snowy 
Egrets were seen feeding together. The aigrettes, the valuable feathers which caused 
the near extinction of these birds, could be seen. In no case would the large egrets permit 
one to approach nearer than a quarter of a mile. The lone Snowy Egret was approached 
within a distance of a hundred and fifty yards. 
The Fulvous Tree-duck (Dcudrocygna bicolor) was the bird most abundant in the local- 
ity. Other water and shore birds noted were: Pied-billed Grebe (Podilyinbus podiccps), 
Forster Tern (Sterna forstcri). Black Tern (Hydrochclidon nigra sunuainensis) , Ruddy 
Duck (Erismatura jainaiccnsis) , Bittern (Botaurus Icntiginosus ) , Least Bittern (Ixobrychus 
cxilis), Great Blue Heron (Ardca hcrodias hcrodias) , Anthony Green Heron (Butorides 
z’ircsccns aiithonyi) , Florida Gallinule {Gallintila galcata), Coot (Fulica aniericana) , Avocet 
(Recurvirostra amcricana). Black-necked Stilt (H imautopus nicxicanus) , and Killdeer 
(Oxycchiis vocifenis) . 
A Great Blue Heron picked up beneath the wires of an electric pow'er line, where it had 
evidently accidentally killed itself, furnished abundant evidence as to the economic value of 
this bird. The stomach of this particular individual contained two large gophers (Thoniomys 
angularis) , still undigested. Considering the time of digestion one would naturally infer 
from this, that these birds must need a minimum daily food supply' of an equivalent of two 
gophers. A complete knowledge as to the average number of gophers taken by one of these 
birds in a day would furnish interesting evidence as to their money value to the rancher. 
The patience displayed by one of these birds as it watches a gopher hole in an alfalfa field, 
and the cleverness shown in catching the rodent when it puts in an appearance, have become 
topics of conversation by many observing ranchers of the state. — H. C. Bryant. 
Blue Jay Imitating Song of Brown Thrasher On July 4, a hot, sultry day, while 
seated near an open window, a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) was seen to alight on a bush 
within twenty feet, and was observed to sing softly a song distinctly resembling that of the 
Brown Thrasher. Dr. Craig Thoms and I both saw its throat moving as it sang and have 
not the slightest doubt as to the source of the notes. It was softer and lacked the “ring” 
but was almost as pretty a song as the Brown Thrasher’s own. 
Dr. Thoms relates that some ten years ago on a similar hot afternoon in Des Moines, 
Iowa, he saw and heard a Blue Jay sing just outside of an open window. That time, though, 
the song was brief and didn’t distinctly suggest that of any other common species. — S. S. 
ViSHER. 
The Northern Brown Towhee. — In 1899, Richard C. McGregor ( Bull. Cooper Orn. 
Club I, page 11) gave the name Pipilo fiiscus carolac to what he at the time regarded as a 
separable form of the brown towhee from northern California (type from Battle Creek, 
Shasta County) ; and the name was adopted by the A. O. U. Committee. Subsequently sev- 
eral writers, including McGregor himself, expressed doubt as to the reality of the assigned 
characters, and the name was dropped from the A. O. U. List. 
Some material has lately come into the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 
which seems to me to establish adequate grounds for reinstating carolac as a valid sub- 
species. The material representing carolac is as follows; Kerby, Josephine County, Oregon, 
two (nos. 17201,17202) ; California: Helena, Trinity County, one (no. 17359); Tower 
House, Shasta County, two (nos. 17360-17361); Tehama, Tehama County, ten (nos. 22856, 
22871-22879) ; Winslow, Glenn County, five (nos. 22880-22884) ; Chico, Butte Ciouuty, two 
(nos. 22869, 22870) ; (Droville, Butte County, one (no. 22868) ; Marysville Buttes, Sutter 
County, two (nos. 22866, 22867); Carbondale, Amador County, five (nos. 22860-22864): 
Galt, Sacramento County, one (no. 22865). 
Specimens from the latter two localities approach Pipilo crissalis scnicula, and others, 
from the rim of the southern San Joaquin Valley, are best referred to that form, the known 
range of which is hereby extended accordingly. Pipilo crissalis crissalis is thus to he consid- 
ered as restricted to the coast region of west-central California. 
The characters separating carolac from crissalis, are slightly larger size, and paler, more 
slaty and less brownish, coloration. From scnicula, carolac differs in decidedly larger size 
and deeper, slaty-brown, tones of coloration. The two skins of carolac from Kerby, Oregon, 
(presented to the Museum by Mr. Charles W. Bowles), show the extreme of large size. — 
J. GRtNNELL. 
